Miami Ad School

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Permalink Reply by Dave Bricker on May 23, 2008 at 4:18pm

I'm primarily a designer but I do a fair bit of marketing consulting and really enjoy copy writing jobs when they come along. I teach at the "other" University in Miami that has a design and Advertising program. I used to teach (design) at MAS and basically had a positive experience there.

Since I left, the school was acquired by a large ad agency. I don't know how that has affected the curriculum or the school's accreditation. It seems like the agency gets a source of interns who actually pay them, and the students get to leave with a big name on their resume and presumably, some real-world experience. It may not be a bad proposition, but I question whether the purpose of college should really be to prepare someone for a "job." MAS is either a great marriage or a huge conflict of interest and I'm not qualified to say which.

I see a lot of advertising/design students and I think there are two types. Probably the majority are more inclined towards production/administration - skills that are vital to any agency. The other type are natural, conceptual thinkers - people who like puns and wordplay, who create designs with hidden meanings, campaign slogans with double entendres. These are the people who are compulsive about finding extra layers of meaning, humor and beauty in just about anything and this group is where good copy writers come from. I think the first type can't learn to be the second, and the second type is miserable if forced to be the first.

If you do like to conceptualize, there are books and certainly plenty of examples abound of really bad copy writing that you can readily learn from. We live in a country where one in five people read at or below a 5th grade level so standards of writing are abhorrently low. If you want a really useful University program, get a creative writing degree and develop as much facility with the language as you can. Not only will you improve your writing, you'll have a broader instruction in the critical thinking that Universities (are supposed to) promote.

Finally, if you look around you, you'll see that a great deal of bad copy writing comes out of the big agencies you aspire to move to. I'm astounded at how many of them spew these late-night-television-ad style spiels at people, asking insipid questions, spewing puffery about mediocre products and whispering disclaimers at the end. If you can develop a sense of your own style and some values that drive what you think makes good copy writing, put some good conceptual pieces together and then offer your services as a freelancer before you sever yourself from your existing employer, you can save a few bucks on tuition. Even if you do go to a copy writing school, you'll get hired based on your work rather than on your degree (which is as it should be).

If you do go to MAS or any other serious program, I think you'll find good teachers and plenty of information and inspiration you can use. However, that big job at the end still depends on what work you have together to show at your interview. School will force you to do that, but it isn't the only way.

Best of luck with your path either way.

P.S. Since I started writing this, I see a reply from Pippa Seichrist. The continued involvement of the Seichrists is a very good sign.

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Permalink Reply by Pippa Seichrist on May 23, 2008 at 9:04pm

It is a misconception that Miami Ad School was acquired by an agency. I am sure you are thinking Crispin Porter + Bogusky bought the school. They didn't, not the tiniest piece. We are independent. I was once told that Jay Chiat (of TBWA/Chiat/Day) founded Miami Ad School. That was news to me because I was pretty darn sure my husband, Ron, and I had started the school but I didn't argue with the person :-)

The school has benefitted from a close friendship with CP+B since the day we opened in 1993. They are absolutely great about consulting with us, taking our students as paid interns, and having their account planners and creatives teach. We also have close relationships with DDB, Chicago; Saatchi & Saatchi, New York & London; Lowe, New York; Fallon, Minneapolis; W&K, Shanghai and dozens of other agencies in the US and abroad. These agencies provide teachers, advice and paid internships to our students.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Bricker on May 23, 2008 at 10:55pm

I'm very pleased to stand corrected on this. It's a rumor that has circulated as fact within the design teaching community and I'll pass on your comments to my colleagues.

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Permalink Reply by Alicia on September 9, 2008 at 2:25pm

I'm wondering.. how hard is it to get into the bootcamp for account planning?

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Permalink Reply by Alicia on September 22, 2008 at 6:41pm

Great! Thanks for the response. I'll be submitting my application soon.

:)

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Permalink Reply by Brian Caruso on December 15, 2009 at 10:56am

Even though this thread is a little old, the question was not fully answered.

I am in the same predicament concerning my application to the Miami Ad School. I am an aspiring copywriter and I would like to know the base school that has the best copywriting program. This opinion can be based on student work, instructor experience, copywriter placement, student morale, copywriter networking, etc.

Help me pleaseee.

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Permalink Reply by J.S. Gilbert on December 23, 2009 at 11:29am

I have been Bay Area student ADDY awards chair twice and I am on the boards/ advisory boards of a few schools. In general, I will say that many of the students I have seen may be better suited to careers the fast food industry. More than one teacher has relayed that approximately 10% of students tend to excel and my experience with most of the schools that offer advertising degree programs seems to confirm this.

Students have numerous opportunities to get out and become involved with agency folks, via involvement in programs such as Ad Club 2 (30 and under) or AAF clubs, IAA West programs (In the S.F. Bay Area), Chambers of Commerce, industry events and mixers, etc.

Students that take advantage of these and other opportunities will often find themslves in the "right place at the right time."

One does need to realiuze that popping out of school into a major writing or art director position is highly unlikely, but (and despite the poor economy) there are opportunities. My personal thinking is that if a student can develop a mentor relationship early on with a respected someone in the industry, they are likely to do quite well.

With regards to Miami Ad School, my experience with the San francisco program is that it is quite "tight", with a fairly large percentage of students showing outward signs of being overachievers. One of my favorite student campaigns was a well produced tv broadcast campaign for "Sharpy" that did well in the ADDY competitions, and quite a bit of other student work I have seen has been of a professional caliber.

Miami Ad School tends to win a fairly large share of Student ADDY awards every year.

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Permalink Reply by MASDenise on May 12, 2011 at 4:57pm

Hello!

My name is Denise and I work at the Miami Ad School in San Francisco.

I wanted to extend an offer to answer any questions anyone might have about Miami Ad School.  Our program is international, extremely digital and unique to the other portfolio programs out there in many ways.

 

You can contact me directly at denise@miamiadschool.com

 

Check out our blog to get a taste of what we do http://blog.miamiadschool.com/

 

Visit us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MiamiAdSchool

 

Or on linkedin at  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=90756

 

I encourage people who are considering ad school to join our Miami Ad School group, so, that you can connect with people who have graduated from the program and see where they are working now.

 

Good luck!

 

 

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